French police detain wedding guest in case of missing girl

france-missing-girl

This notice released on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, by Gendarmerie Nationale shows a call for witnesses and an undated portrait of a missing girl, Maelys, The notice, released on the Gendarmerie Nationale Twitter account, reads in French: "Call for witnesses" - "Worrying disappearance of a minor". French police are widening their search for a 9-year-old girl who disappeared during a wedding in the Alps, combing woods and streams and questioning more potential witnesses.(Gendarmerie Nationale via AP)

france-missing-girl

PARIS (AP) — French police have detained a wedding guest for questioning in connection with the search for a nine-year-old girl who went missing at a weekend wedding party in the Alps.

The 34-year-old was detained Thursday, prosecutor Dietlind Baudoin said in a statement.

The prosecutor warned against jumping to conclusions. She said police wanted to clarify the whereabouts of a person who left the celebrations around when the girl disappeared in Pont-de-Beauvoisin, 85 kilometers (53 miles) from Lyon in southeastern France.

The detained person is a man, according to another official close to the police investigation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The prosecutor identified the missing girl as Maelys.

A photo and a description of the girl has been posted and tweeted across France since her weekend disappearance. The local prosecutor has opened a kidnapping investigation.